


The Wild Hunt

by LynyrdLionheart



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-08 14:50:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5501744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LynyrdLionheart/pseuds/LynyrdLionheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Caroline, The Morrigan, breaks the one rule held by the Gods, The Wild Hunt is sent to retrieve her, and Klaus finally sees his chance to gain vengeance  on the Goddess that had spurned his love when he had turned out to be too monstrous for even the woman that had created him to love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wild Hunt

**Author's Note:**

  * For [venomandchampagne (sushibunny)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sushibunny/gifts).



> This is very (VERY) loosely based on Celtic Myth. And I do mean VERY. I took great liberties with the legend of Cernunnos, The Wild Hunt, and the Morrigan. I hope you like it and happy holidays!

The Hunt would ride tonight.

               Niklaus could feel the call in his bones.  Called Cernunnos by many, he had once been just a man.  But it had millennia since that time, and now all he could remember was the call of the Wild Hunt.  It thrummed in him now; someone would be paying his price this night.

               “Who is our prey?” Kol asked, his dark eyes burning with barely restrained glee.  He had ever thrived on the thrill of the hunt, and it had been nearly a month since they had been called to dole out divine punishment.

               Klaus closed his eyes and let his powers flare out.  As the Cernunnos, it was his role to lead the hunt, and so he was the one to whom the name of their prey was sent.

               He froze, as the image came to mind.

               The Morrigan were the three most powerful sorceress Goddesses.  His own half-sister, Rebekah, was amongst their number, as was the wicked and devilish Katerina, known for seducing men into happily opening their arms to their own demise..

               It was the third member of the Morrigan, _The Morrigan_ herself, the Goddess of Witchcraft.

               To most, her name had been lost.

               To Klaus, she had once been Caroline. 

               To Klaus, she had once been his _wife_.

               And it was at her feet the blame for him becoming Cernunnos.  Klaus’ hand came up to rub his chest.  Beneath the cloth that covered him, there was a series of ravens there.  Many thought it a tattoo, but it was nothing so innocent.

               _It was the brand of The Morrigan_.

               Klaus’ grin became predatory, and when he sent the image to Kol, his fellow Hunter threw back his head with laughter.  Nearby, Elijah, who had joined the Hunt at nearly the same time as Klaus, looked at his fellow Huntsmen with alarm.

               “Why would we be ordered to hunt _her_?” Elijah demanded, and Klaus knew that though the other man spoke of Caroline, his thoughts were truly on Katerina, who he blamed for stealing away his humanity.

               “I don’t care,” Klaus replied.  “I only care that I get to drag her to her punishment.”

               She had twisted another as she had twisted _him_.  It had been centuries since he had last looked at her.  Centuries since his love had turned to hate, and yet even then… even then…

               The victory he had felt moments before, knowing that she was his prey, now felt hollow.  She was to be brought in because she had Made another mortal into more.  A price that demanded nothing less than death…

               Even when she had loved Klaus, _she_ had not been the one to give him the title Cernunnos.  Instead, she had plead with another to do it for her.  But now… now she had apparently found the one mortal for which she would give it all.

               He wanted to kill the faceless man.  Instead, he would settle for killing Caroline.

               He lifted the Horn of Kern and blew.

               It was time for the Wild Hunt to ride.

\---

               “They’re going to be coming for you.”

               Caroline didn’t reply to Rebekah’s remark.  Instead, she waved a hand over her scrying bowl.  She watched as an image took form – the horses and doglike creatures and Hunters that made up the Wild Hunt.  But that wasn’t what Caroline wished to see.

               Another wave, and the image focused in on a single Hunter.  Blue eyes and curly blonde hair were what caught her attention first.  Then her eyes took in the antlers that framed his head, starting at his temples to flare out behind his head.  He hadn’t had those when Caroline had first met him.  Back then, he had been a simple man.  A farmer, who had an inordinate talent for poaching.  She knew that his time as the Cernunnos had tainted his memories of hers, but once they had been so very much in love.

               “My brother,” Rebekah stated flatly, joining her at the scrying bowl.  Caroline still didn’t look at her, but she felt the other blonde’s gaze boring into her.  “He will take glee from dragging you to your punishment.”

               “Would you rather Lorenzo be dead?”

               There was silence, and Caroline finally looked away from the bowl.  Rebekah’s expression was pained.  The two women had butted heads on more than one occasion through the centuries.  Caroline was the elder, and known as _The_ Morrigan, whereas Rebekah was merely a member, and at times had loathed that fact bitterly.  But though Caroline knew Rebekah would love to steal her position, she had never wanted it like this.

               Caroline would be dragged to whatever Hell it was Niklaus would steal her away too, and Rebekah would be eternally in her debt and never able to repay it.

               “Someday, he will hate you as Niklaus hates me,” Caroline said coolly.  “And when that happens, you will know your debt is repaid.”

               Rebekah said nothing as Caroline left her.  Qetsiyah had once spoken the exact same words to her, millennia ago when Caroline had plead for her to save her beloved.  And Qetsiyah had, just as Caroline had saved Lorenzo.

               And now she would pay the price.

               “You’re a fool, Sister,” Katerina murmured from the shadows that she had come to wear as naturally as another woman wore a gown.  “Rebekah becomes besotted more easily than a child, and you would give your life to save her infatuation?”

               “Qetsiyah gave hers to save ours,” Caroline wondered if she sounded as hollow as she felt.  It had been so long, that she hardly remembered what it felt like to be loved by Niklaus.  Warm.  She thought that his love had made her feel _warm_.

               She had been cold so very long now.

               “And didn’t we learn our lessons?” Katerina’s voice cut through Caroline’s thoughts harshly.  “Men are proud and fickle.  Their love only lasts so long as they believe us helpless.  Then it moves to another and another… all in the name of playing White Knight.”

               _Not Niklaus_ , Caroline thought, though she didn’t say as much.  He had hardly been a monk since they had separated, but while Elijah had chased after one woman and then another that he believed to be helpless – though they always proved not to be – Klaus had simply turned cold.  She had heard others that had believed themselves enamored of him speak of it.

               The Cernunnos had no feelings.  He might be a God of Fertility, but there was no warmth to him.  He could make a woman weep with wanting, yet he was left untouched himself. Women stared after him with longing, yet he never looked back.

               If Caroline closed her eyes and tried really hard, she could remember a time when that wasn’t the case.  She could remember his smile – he had dimples, though few would know it – and his laugh.  And most of all, she could remember the way he had fallen apart under her touch.

               “Take Rebekah and flee until the Hunt has gone, Kat,” Caroline said, forcefully pushing aside thoughts of how Niklaus had once been.  “There is no need for you to be here.  No need for you to-”

               _To see Elijah_.  It hung between them, words unspoken. But Katerina had not seen Elijah since he had walked away from her, realizing that he could try to play the White Knight, but it would never change the fact that Katerina was the more powerful.

               “I refuse to become The Morrigan,” Katerina told her, her lips curling in distaste at the mere thought.

               “Rebekah will take over the role,” Caroline replied with an easy shrug.  “It’s been too long, since The Morrigan was so attuned to nature anyways.  Bonnie will make a suitable replacement to fill out the triad.  She’ll accept the honor, and then someday she’ll realize it’s truly a curse just as we all do.”

               Katerina’s arms created a tight band around Caroline, who stiffened in surprise.  After a moment, she brought her arms up to hug the other Goddess in return.  In all their years as members of the Morrigan Triad, it had always been Caroline that had began physical contact.  For Katherine to do it now spoke volumes of what she felt.

               “I will miss you, Sister,” Katerina murmured. 

               “You’ll thrive without me.”

               Katerina didn’t answer, instead disappearing into the shadows once again.  She would take Rebekah and force the other woman to flee with her.  Rebekah would balk of course; she would believe the presence of her brothers on the Hunt would keep her safe.  Caroline and Katerina knew otherwise, of course, and until Caroline was stripped of her powers as The Morrigan, Katerina would remain more powerful than Rebekah.

               After that… well, Katerina was ever clever.  She would know how to handle the impetuous Rebekah, even once the blonde became The Morrigan.

               She had managed with Caroline, after all.

               With her fellow witch Goddesses gone, Caroline found herself walking the labyrinth of caves that they called their home.  She briefly contemplated fleeing… but she knew enough of the Wild Hunt to know the uselessness of such an action.

               The Wild Hunt didn’t give up, and they never failed to bring in their prey.

               With Niklaus at their head, their pursuit of her would be even more determined.  How long, she wondered, had he waited for an opportunity just like this one?  The chance to bring her to her knees, as he had once accused her of doing to him.

               Instead, she ventured to the entrance of the labyrinth.  She could have made it hard – could have ventured to the heart of the caves and made him – _them_ – pursue her through the myriad of traps and tricks that filled it.

               But Caroline was weary.  The weight of her life and powers felt heavy on her shoulders, and she found some relief, in the thought that it would soon be over.  So rather than make it difficult, she waited at the entrance. 

               Niklaus entered first, the thrill of the hunt making his eyes all but glow, equally wild dog beasts at his side, their teeth bared in snarls.  He came up short when he saw her awaiting him.

               “What trick is this, Witch?” he demanded harshly, his hand clenching on his bow.  Caroline contemplated it and wondered what it would feel like, to have one of those arrows punch through her throat. 

               “No trick, Lord Cernunnos,” the title was said with a wry twist of her lips, just a hint of sarcasm, and his knuckles turned white on the bow.  “I chose to simply await my fate.  How is this to be done?  Do you simply finish it here, or do you truly drag me away as rumor claims?”

               “Why?” he demanded harshly.  Caroline looked over his shoulder to see that his brothers, Kol and Elijah, had joined them, and she tilted her head as she contemplated them.  Kol was a devil of a man who thrived on the hunt simply because it was a sort of chaos.  But Elijah… her hand clenched into a fist, and she contemplated the things she could do Elijah, to demand vengeance for the ways he had hurt her sister.  “Don’t think of it, Morrigan.”

               Klaus’ harsh words drew Caroline’s gaze back to him.

               “You are to pay for breaking the laws that bind us.  You will be a Witch Goddess no more. And the least you can do is answer my question – _why_?”

               “Why is rather vauge, isn’t it?” Caroline took a step toward him, her fingers itching to reach out and touch.  How long had it been?  How long had he hated her for? “You’ll have to be more specific.”

               “The mortal.  Why would you do to him as you did me?” Klaus demanded harshly.  “For millennia I have _hated_ you for it.  Yet you would do it to another?  Centuries I have loved you and now…”

               Caroline’s gaze shot to him, and Klaus’ teeth snapped shut audibly, his gaze turning dark as he realized that he had said too much, that his words _revealed_ too much.

               “You say that almost as though it’s not past tense, Love of Mine,” Caroline murmured, and she did reach out to touch, her fingers stroking against his cheek.  Her lips took on a twist.  “But we both know better, don’t we?”

               “We do,” he agreed his voice harsh.

               “What use,” she began, letting her hand drop once more to her side, “is gifting a beloved mortal with Immortality if you do not get to share it?” She looked past him to Elijah, her eyes flaring with anger for a moment, before looking at Kol instead.  “Huntsman, what do we do next?”

               Her shoulder brushed Klaus’ as she walked by him to join Kol, and his had snapped out and held her in place.

               “Leave us,” he said to his Elijah and Kol.

               “Niklaus-”

               “Leave us, Elijah.  The Hunt tonight proves to be disappointing.  I can handle one doomed Goddess.  If you will recall, _I_ am the Cernunnos.  Not you.”

               There was a moment of heated tension, but then Elijah led Kol away.  When they were gone, Caroline looked down very deliberately, to look at the hand that still clutched her wrist.  He recoiled from her as though burned, and Caroline turned to watch him as he paced in frustration.

               “You destroyed me,” he told her at last, coming to stand a mere few inches from her.  “Twisted me and tainted me until I was a monster.”

               “I begged Qetsiyah to grant you immortality,” Caroline replied coolly, lifting her chin in defiance.  “What you became after that is on _you_.  After all, in a mere blink of an eye, you turned on me.”

               She turned away from him, walking toward a wall, determined not to look at him.

               “A mere blink – _I loved you for centuries_!”

               “And I lost my sister for you!” she whirled on him.  “I chose you over Qetsiyah!  I asked her to _die_ for you!  And you think that mere _centuries_ make up for that loss?”

               Klaus took a surprised step back in the face of her fury, but Caroline wasn’t done.  She was enraged at the way he so cavalierly forgot her sacrifices.  As though they were nothing in the face of his…

               What, exactly?

               “What is it that you feel you lost?” she demanded, going on her toes so their eyes were level.  “Elijah joined the Hunt at nearly the same moment as you – though he deserved that honor no more than you did, _Cernunnos_.  You both betrayed us that loved you enough to wish for eternity!  And you spat in my face!  You acted as though I stole something from you, though Elijah and Kol still live.  Though I accepted your _sister_ as my own, because I knew that losing Rebekah would cause you pain!  So don’t play innocent when you. Lost. _Nothing_.”

               Breathing deeply, she glared into his eyes.  He looked back, his nostrils flaring with deep breaths, and his eyes darted down to her lips.  Out of habit, Caroline’s tongue darted out to dry their dry surface, and Klaus’ eyes darkened in response.

               “I lost you,” he said, his voice gravelly.  “I lost you, when you decided you didn’t want this ruined creature I’ve become.”

               Caroline blinked and stepped back, but Klaus followed her movement, until she had backed into the wall, and he could brace his hands on either side of her head.

               “Do you deny that you grew disgusted with what I became?” he asked, leaning down so his breath was warm against her ear.  “And do you believe this mortal of yours will do any better than I?”

               “Lorenzo was never mine,” Caroline replied, and then wished she could yank the words back.  He had no rights to know who she may or may not be involved with.  He had given up those rights ages ago.

_What use is gifting a beloved mortal with Immortality if you do not get to share it?_

It had not been a rhetorical question. To Caroline’s mind, there was no purpose in it.  It was why she had pled with Qetsiyah for Niklaus’ life rather than giving him Immortality herself.  Because to give Godhood was to break all the rules, and to break the rules was to be taken away by the Hunt.

               To be taken by the Hunt was to never see your loved ones again.

               “Then why?” Klaus demanded. 

               She considered turning from him.  Let him wonder about it for eternity.  Let it haunt him – a way of claiming a peace of him, even once she was gone.

               But Caroline had never been that vengeful or that inclined to self-denial.

               If she was to finally, _finally_ , die… then let it be with the ghost of the man she had loved.

               “I’m tired,” she said at last, and she leaned her head forward so it rested against his chest.  She felt his hands come up, to run through the strands of her blonde hair.  “I’m so very weary, Niklaus.  And when Rebekah came to me…”

               “Rebekah,” Klaus murmured, and his hands froze in her hair.

               “She loves him,” Caroline replied, slowly looking up.  “And now she’ll forever owe me” – a small smirk twisted her lips, and okay, maybe she _could_ be vengeful – “but more than that… I understand what she felt.  Perhaps you have forgotten, Niklaus, but I still remember what it was to love you.  And I couldn’t deny Rebekah that, even if I knew how it would end. For a blink, it was good between us, wasn’t it?”

               “For more than a blink,” Klaus replied.  “Centuries are longer than you would claim.”

               The stroking of his hands stopped, and he cradled her neck.  Giving into impetuousness, Caroline went on her toes and pressed her lips to his.  For a moment, he didn’t respond.

               But then his mouth opened.  She opened hers in response and what was meant to be an innocent kiss of longing instead became heated.  Caroline clutched at his hair as he cradled her body tight to hers.  The kiss took a desperate turn, and she was pressed further into the stone of the cave, but she didn’t care. 

               “Caroline,” he murmured, breaking apart from her for a second, before he delved in once more, swallowing whatever response she might have given to his speaking her name.

               She wasn’t sure how far they might have gone – it had been far too long since she had felt him _in_ her – except that one of the dog beasts of the hunt chose that moment to bray from outside the cave.  It was as though cold water had been doused over them, and they separated.

               “If you think to seduce me into-”

               “Please grant me more dignity than to finish that,” Caroline said coldly, cutting him off.  He met her gaze for a moment, before looking away from her, a light flush on his cheeks.  “I told you, I’m weary.”

               “Does that happen to everyone?” Klaus asked her solemnly, making her stiffen.

               “I never thought it would happen to me,” she answered after a long moment, looking at him over her shoulder.  “I was to have you.  Ours was to be a love for eternity” – she felt her smile turn somewhat bitter – “I suppose even the very old can be young and foolish.”

               She stepped out of the cave, his presence at her back.  The Hunt let out a victorious shout when they saw their prey, and one of the Hunters stepped forward with rope, but Klaus gave  sharp command in the guttural language that only the Wild Hunt used, and the Hunter stepped back in surprise.

               “We will grant her some dignity,” Klaus said, and a quick glance told Caroline the echo of her words had been done on purpose.  “For now, she is still a Goddess.”

               Caroline found herself riding in front of him on his saddle.  She looked at the Hunt, her expression thoughtful.

               “You are deep in thought,” Klaus murmured, and Caroline gave a delicate shrug.

               Another Hunter rode up alongside them, and Klaus recognized this one as Alaric, one of the eldest of the Hunt.  He gave Caroline a half bow from his saddle.

               “I was sorry, Lady, to see that it was you.  I had never thought to have to Hunt you.”

               Klaus frowned at that, but Caroline ignored his expression to smile at Alaric.

               “Times change, Alaric, as do people.  I have not been your Lady for millennia.”

               “Those of us that were here do not forget when you were.”

               Alaric rode forward again, leaving Klaus to scowl down at her.

               “Did you not think it odd?” she asked softly.  “That you found yourself, a new God, the leader of the Hunt?  When others had coveted the position for those centuries you claim are so long?”

               “The Cernunnos has always been a God,” Klaus pointed out bluntly.

               “Mortals believe any Hunter in breeches and a loose enough shirt is a man, and the hunt was natural for me” – Caroline looked into the distance, taken back to a time when she was no one’s _prey_.  Then, she had always been the Hunter – “but time and fate are curious things, and The Morrigan Triad chose me as their third when Qetsiyah become The Morrigan herself.”

               “And now?” Klaus asked.  “Now who will be The Morrigan?  Katerina, left uncontrolled to seduce men freely?”

               “Katerina has never wished to be The Morrigan,” Caroline replied stiffly, sneering slightly at his description of her sister.  “And you look down on a woman that is more powerful than you could dream, Niklaus.  Just because Elijah could not handle a woman who didn’t need his presence as white knight, doesn’t mean you should be so foolish.”

               Klaus lapsed into silence, and Caroline smirked slightly, knowing that her words had hit their mark.  Klaus might not like Katerina, but he was also aware of the weaknesses of all of his men – and that Elijah’s weakness was the incessant need to be the protector.

               “If not Katerina…” he said instead.

               “Rebekah,” Caroline said bluntly, and felt him start behind her.  “Congratulations, your family will be the most powerful amongst the Godhood after this.  You’ll have to watch your backs, of course.  It will also leave a target on you.  But with the power of The Morrigan, Rebekah should be able to keep you all safe.”

               “I am not lacking in power,” Klaus pointed out with a frown.

               “Don’t be like that, Klaus.  I always liked that you were never threatened by my power.  If anything, you _liked_ it.”

               He had, Klaus would admit it.  Her power had been half of Caroline’s appeal, the strength and will and independence it allowed her.  Unlike Elijah, he had never been threatened by that.

               No, in the end, it had been…

               “Your own self-loathing was your downfall,” she said, and Klaus grip on her waist became biting, but Caroline continued on anyway.  “You believed that since you hated yourself, I must hate you as well.  So you twisted everything into being _my_ fault, even though I never stopped loving you.”

               “Are you saying you would have me now?” Klaus scoffed.  “When all that know me say I’m more a beast than my dogs?”

               “In a heartbeat,” Caroline replied, her gaze clashing with his, and Klaus felt his breath catch when he could find no lie in her expression.  She finally looked away.  “But that doesn’t matter.  I am to meet my final fate”- her expression turned thoughtful – “do you think it will hurt much?”

               Just hours earlier, he would have wished for it to be painful beyond reason.  Now, Klaus felt nothing but confusion, and his grip tightened around her, the thought of her in pain making him… uncomfortable.

               “What if I released you,” he blurted out suddenly, a reckless plan forming in his mind.  “You say you love me still… what if you were to run away with me?”

               “And leave the Wild Hunt without it’s Cernunnos?  The witches without their Morrigan?” Caroline’s expression was flat.  “It cannot be allowed.  The world-”

               “Damn the world!” Klaus shot back.  So many centuries wasted, thinking she hated him.  So many centuries wasted hating _her_ because he had decided she must hate him.  And none of it was true. He leaned down next to her ear.  “Damn the world and flee with me, Caroline.”

               Caroline met his gaze, and she swallowed hard. 

               The world could very well burn without them.  Their powers… they would never be allowed to simply run free.  Fate _would_ catch up with them.

_What use is gifting a beloved mortal with Immortality if you do not get to share it?_

What use was being this powerful, if it meant losing the man she had loved for… for so very long, if it meant that she lost him just when she had the chance to reclaim him.

It was stupid and foolish… it would _never_ last.

               But dammit, a heartbeat with him was worth more than eternities spent without.

               So she pulled him in close, pressing her lips to his, and murmured a single word against his lips.

               “ _Yes_.”

               When the Horn of Kern hit the ground beneath them and shattered from the force, the Hunt seemed to suck in a breath as one. 

               And in that moment of quiet stillness, Klaus and Caroline _ran_.

               In what seemed to be the first time since they had parted ways in anger, Caroline laughed a laugh filled with joy and adrenaline.  The braying of the Hunt began behind them, but it was confused chaos rather than the well-disciplined chaos it typically was.

               The Hunt didn’t know how to hunt its Cernunnos… and Caroline, who had once held the title herself, realized with astonishment that they would escape it.

               Klaus bent down to press a quick, hard kiss to her lips, before he spurred the horse beneath them to run even faster.  The weight that had followed her for so very long disappeared with that kiss.

               And Caroline realized that this had been the right choice.


End file.
